For his third Paris outing, Christopher Esber went for a more sophisticated vibe. He had planned to set the mood at the Palais de Tokyo with floor-to-ceiling transparent coffee-toned panels meant to filter strong sunlight into sepia lighting. But the City of Light’s sparsely sunny weather didn’t really cooperate with the Australian designer. No matter, his fall lineup did the job.
Flamenco was the starting point for a wardrobe that would best be described as flapper-meets-surfer. Seeking to transcribe its gestures and attitudes through shapes and styling led him down a rabbit hole that passed through 1920s interiors and ended with Japanese shibari rope bondage.
Tying them together were cord-based embellishments and techniques that swung and swirled as models walked. It gave coherence to disparate-on-paper silhouettes that ranged from a gown that was a jersey minidress connected to a flowing floor-grazing skirt in printed tortoiseshell chiffon to a beachy asymmetric crochet dress suitable for the beach and a bustier constructed from a mannish coat in heavy gabardine.
Elsewhere, Esber showed how his range has grown with the avenues and ateliers opened up by his ANDAM win last year, with dresses constructed from satin tubing assembled in neat lines or an oh-so-Parisian striped crochet T-shirt paired with wide-leg trousers.
Tailoring his lightly constructed silhouettes in weightier, more opulent textiles for the fall gave his otherwise breezy aesthetic a density his previous offerings, all spring collections, did not have. It brought an urban feel but also gave heft to an overall impression of growth.
